In a factory, outside air is frequently required for the operation of various plant facilities. For instance, to operate a factory air conditioning unit, outside air must be drawn through an air intake grill into an air conditioner intake opening. This is accomplished by first removing a majority of airborne particles or debris by a filter means or by a wet scrubber. When a filter means is used to filter out the airborne particles and debris, the filter means must be constantly cleaned in regular intervals so that air flow through the filter is not hindered. When a wet scrubber is used to clean the intake air, a city water supply is normally used to wash the air out before it enters into the air conditioning intake opening. Waste water from the scrubber is then routed to a filtering station and reused. The filtering of the waste water is a tedious process since the filter must be constantly cleaned by manual labor to ensure the effective operation of the scrubber. In order to maintain the efficiency of the wet scrubber, the process of filtering out of airborne particles and debris from the waste water is an important step of the total process. The airborne particles may contain naturally occurring substances such as bird feathers, leaves, dirt or any other environmental contaminants. The conventional method for removing such airborne particles is by mechanical filtering and the continuous task of cleaning the filters.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a liquid filter that can be continuously operated without the drawbacks or shortcomings of the conventional liquid filters.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a liquid filter that can be operated by its own hydraulic power without outside power requirement.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a liquid filter that serves a self-cleaning function for removing airborne particles or debris that it filtered out from outside air.
It is another further object of the present invention to provide a self-cleaning liquid filter by utilizing a rotating hollow drum filter which is operated by the liquid flow to be filtered.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a self-cleaning liquid filter by using a first filter element for cleaning waste water and a second filter element for cleaning the first filter element.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a self-cleaning liquid filter that is constructed by a filter housing, a liquid reflector for collecting sprayed liquid, an elongated hollow drum covered by a first filter element and a liquid spray nozzle for removing debris collected by the first filter element.
It is still another further object of the present invention to provide a method for filtering a liquid by utilizing a self-cleaning and self-powered liquid filter which substantially cleans itself such that manual cleaning is not required.